AIDS, lack of Faith and poor interest for quality education hinder growth of Kumbo Diocese

AIDS, lack of Faith and poor interest for quality education hinder growth of Kumbo Diocese

Livinus Tal Bam
Three major problems have been diagnosed to be the cause of the sluggish growth of the Diocese of Kumbo. If these problems are probably handled, this will foster the rapid growth of the cathedral parish in Kumbo in particular and the entire Diocese of Kumbo in all domains.

This was the outcome of the Kitiwum meeting with the parish pastoral council of Kumbo parish together with Bishop George Nkuo. In a parish pastoral council meeting of Kumbo parish held in Kitiwum according to Bishop George recently, the AIDS pandemic, laxity in Christian faith and the poor enrolment in catholic nursery and primary schools are major factors that are contributing to the back drop of the growth of the Diocese of Kumbo. Speaking at a high solemn mass on Sunday, March 11, 2007 to end his four days pastoral visit to Kumbo parish, his Lordship Bishop George reminded the Christians of this parish of the rampant death among the Christians, especially among the youths.

While sharing this unpleasant experience with the Christians, he told them not to attribute it to witchcraft, but to believe in the prevalence of the killer disease AIDS, which is what is claiming the lives of their fellow brothers and sisters on daily bases. Considering this factor, something should therefore be done to ensure a way forward to fight out the killer disease” Behavioural change among the people,” he adopted would be the best solution to eradicate this unwanted disease among them. Continuing his exhortation to the Christians at the cathedral, the bishop placed a sharp contrasted statistics of the situation of Catholic education in the Diocese of Kumbo with that of Buea Diocese where he was the education secretary before he was appointed bishop of Kumbo.

According to the statistics he analysed, the 60 Catholic primary schools in Buea diocese against 120 in the Diocese of Kumbo contained more teachers and pupils. According to his presentation, Buea Diocese stood at 900 teachers and an over roll enrolment of 16.000 pupils against only 600 teachers and an over roll enrolment of 11.000 pupils in the Diocese of Kumbo, it was noted to be a piteous situation which needs to be redressed. Considering the fact that catholic education brings up not just academicians but also offers spiritual formation to the children, it should be the unique form of education to help eradicate the social ills of the society.

Talking about laxity in the Christians believe , the bishop noted with great discontent the withdrawal of some catholic Christians to join the sects which are springing up in the society on hourly bases . He called on all to revise and renew their Christian faith and stand strong to it while not risking themselves to fall victims to miracles promised them in these churches. As a souvenir event to his pastoral visit to the St Therese cathedral parish in Kumbo, Bishop George confirmed over 600 Christians. The Christians confirmed, bishop George remarked, will receive among the many gifts of confirmation, the gift of the Holy spirit which will empower them to stand firm in the Lord, fighting as his soldiers and not as soldiers of the sinful world.

He prayed that God should grand them the gift of wisdom to be able to hear with the ear of the lord and to speak with the tongue of the lord, so that they can always listen with great care and respond positively to situations.

March 30, 2007 at 03:01 AM

Source: http://www.leffort.com/2007/03/aids_lack_of_fa.html

World Woman Day – Kumbo- 8.mar.2007

My dear friends,

Lots of greetings from Kumbo.I am sorry to send this late due to light’s problem in Kumbo. I hope you will bear with meThe Theme of the women’s Day for this year 2007 in Cameroon is “Violence Against Women”. The women came out in their numbers to celebrate this day with lots of activities. The uniform for this year had three colours; green, purple and orange as you will see from the pictures.These three colours signifies the colours of the Cameroon Flag.

The activities for the began with the singing of the Women’s Antem which was followed by ‘Match Pass’. The women matched in groups with plar cards showing the activities of the various groups concern.e.g. The Women Empowerment Institute and Gender Equality educate the women how to fight against poverty and to be self-reliant. The plar cards showed the violence at home between parents and children. The theme for this year fights for the rights of women and that they also have a say in our society, they also have something to contribute to the world.

After the match pass and choral singing, the women went to their various places for total celebration with their husbands, friends and the invited guests. We celebrated ours in the office with PCC team, our husbands and our friends. You can see from the pictures what happened.

I wish you all the best have a nice time as you go throught the message of the Women’s Day for 2007.

NGI Makelia Manli
Printing & Communications Centre
P. O. Box 115 Kumbo
Diocese of Kumbo
Republic of Cameroon
Tel:+237 736 54 51
Fixed: +237 348 11 98
email: makeliangi@yahoo.com

Sister Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary establishes foundation in Kumbo

Livinus Tal Bam

New_sisters_ A new congregation known as “The Sisters Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary” has been established in the Diocese of Kumbo.. The official ceremony to welcome the congregation took place at the St John the Baptist Parish in Oku, during a solemn Eucharistic celebration with the Bishop of Kumbo as main celebrant

Speaking during the occasion to officially welcome and install the Sisters into the diocese, Bishop George Nkuo called the Sisters as a special gift from God to the diocese, which, he said, will go a long way to foster evangelisation in the diocese. While thanking the Christians of St John Parish Elak-Oku for the befitting welcome given to the Sisters, the Bishop cautioned them not to misinterpret the coming of the new Congregation to their parish, while stating that the Congregation has not come there for business or as tourists, but to bring Jesus to the lives of the people there. During their stay in Elak, he continued, the Sisters will share the Good News of God with the people while doing their best to bring Christ closer to them. Bishop Nkuo exhorted the Christians of Elak to take it as their responsibility to work hand-in-glove with the Sisters, to advise and protect them against all possible dangers.

In his sermon His Lordship acknowledged with gratitude the acceptance of the Reverend sisters to come to Oku Elak as the pioneer congregation.It is proof of their dedication in a life of serving God, he said. He again called on the Christians to pray for the congregation so that it should bear witness to the Gospel, putting light wherever it finds darkness. To the Sisters Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary, the Bishop exhorted them to live a good life to inspire more children from Elak to answer their call from God. He called on them to do their best to mediate as peace-makers among the people of Elak, while noting that their work as pioneer missionaries will be an uphill task. The Parish Pastoral Council Chairman Mr. Angelbert Mbunda, made a presentation, in which he began by thanking Archbishop Cornelius Fotem Esua for inviting the congregation to the Diocese of Kumbo and especially in Elak Parish, and Mgr George Nkuo for confirming the establishment of their foundation in Elak.

He called on young girls of the diocese to enrol into the congregation and announced that five young ladies from the Diocese of Kumbo are already in the congregation among whom are three postulants and two novices. While also thanking the Sisters Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary for establishing their foundation in Elak Parish, the chairman, on behalf of the Christian community, promised their readiness to cooperate with and to help overcome any initial problems the Sisters might encounter.

Ever since the creation of the St. John the Baptist Parish on February 13, 1992, the Sister Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary is the first congregation of Reverend Sisters so far to be established in the parish. For their stay in Elak, the sisters will be taking care of orphans among other works of charity.

March 02, 2007

http://www.leffortcamerounais.com/2007/03/sister_servants.html

St Augustine Collegeholds annual PTA

Livinus Tal Bam

Parents_listen

An enlarged annual meeting of the Parent Teacher Association of St Augustine College Nso, held recently at the college campus, during which parents came from all over the country to sit and deliberate with the school administration and draw up better strategies for a conducive teaching and learning atmosphere.

After a con-celebrated Mass presided over by the Rector of the St. Aloysius Minor Seminary, Fr. Isidore Lafon, the meeting kicked off in a tense atmosphere. The tension, mostly on the part of parents, was palpable and had fully bloomed after a succession of stories transmitted from parents to students and from the children back to the parents over the past six months that culminated in a disastrous strike action in campus at the beginning of the academic year. This resulted in several dismissals and many suspension and hard manual labour cases, which many of the parents did not find easy to accept, rather preferring to lay all the blame on the new principal, Rev. Fr. Peter A. Foleng, SD.

Some of the parents took it upon themselves to question the change of principal, and were determined to exert all their influence to ensure that he is removed. The question now is: Did Fr. Foleng apply a different set of school rules and regulations on the students? After an elaborate and self-explanatory address from Fr Foleng, the tension could be clearly felt going down. There followed various interventions after the principal’s address and the speech presented by the outgoing PTA chairman – Mr. Ndzelen Tobias Kenyuy. The parties finally arrived at a consensus and the parents again accepted to collaborate with the school administration for a better upbringing of the children. The bone of contention ensued from the issue of extra food in the dormitory and the revised rules and regulations, which were under study. It became clear that the parents did not read a letter attached to the draft rules and regulations. The principal insisted that these set of rules, culled from the ones that were in force, simply had sanctions attached to each. Many parents thought that the sanctions aspect might scare the children. After a long debate on these issues, the new PTA executive was commissioned to sit with the school administration to draw up final draft of rules and regulations. This will let the students concentrate on their studies without worrying about what will befall them.

Despite the appeal from the Proprietor of the School, His Lordship Bishop George Nkuo, for parents to assist the construction of a new dormitory to replace the existing one, the PTA insisted and resolved to continue with their existing plan to build a toilet for St. Joseph and Agnes boys’ dormitories. This will be done at a proposed site where the proprietor of the school will designate. Evaluating the results of students in the past two years, it was noted with discontent that at the G.C.E 2006 examination, the school dropped quite perceptibly both at the Ordinary and Advanced levels. As a solution, it was resolved that admissions into examination classes should be thoroughly screened, especially for students coming from other schools. Other social ills noted to be reigning in the college included child abuse, where the junior students were constantly intimidated and sometimes physically molested by senior students. Sexual immorality among students, indiscriminate breaking of bounds and stealing were also among the most common of student felonies. The principal called on parents to join the school administration in fighting these ills.

There is a school of thought that the issue of food and hard rules were magnified by the students to gain the sympathy of parents, who would then not look too keenly into their misdemeanours. The meeting ended with the election of a new executive, with Mr. Mainimo Thomas becoming the new president, Mrs Ngala Mary Vice president and Mr. Jaff Patrick Financial Secretary.

March 01, 2007

http://www.leffortcamerounais.com/2007/03/st_augustine_co.html